Former prime minister Scott Morrison will quit parliament after almost two decades.
First elected as the representative for the NSW seat of Cook in 2007, Mr Morrison became Australia’s 30th prime minister on August 24, 2018 and held onto power until his defeat at the May 2022 election.
He won the Liberal leadership in 2018 after Peter Dutton unsuccessfully challenged Malcolm Turnbull twice.
Dubbed the “miracle” win, the evangelical Christian from Cronulla led the coalition to a surprise victory in 2019.
But his tenure has been tainted by the revelations he secretly appointed himself to several ministries, earning a rare rebuke from the nation’s top lawyer who slammed Mr Morrison’s actions as having undermined responsible government and public trust.
He became the first former prime minister to be censured by the House of Representatives in 2022.
Mr Morrison was also found by a royal commission to have misled cabinet about the robodebt scheme.
The scandal cost taxpayers more than $1 billion for the illegal scheme which wrongly assigned debt through an automated system to welfare recipients.
The former prime minister presided over the turbulent outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, with his government implementing the highly successful JobKeeper program, keeping the nation’s economy afloat.
But his foreign policy decisions received mixed responses, after announcing Australia was dumping a $90 billion submarine contract with France to pursue nuclear-powered boats under the AUKUS partnership with the US and UK.
His recognition of West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel also sparked controversy and has since been reversed.
Mr Morrison was first appointed to the front bench by the then federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull in 2008.
He took on the shadow ministries for immigration and citizenship in 2009 following Tony Abbott’s leadership spill against Mr Turnbull.
Under Mr Abbott’s leadership, he was then appointed Minister for Immigration and Border Protection from September 2013, and then Minister for Social Services from December 2014.
Following Mr Turnbull’s replacement of Mr Abbott as prime minister, Mr Morrison was made Treasurer from September 2015.
Before his parliamentary career, Mr Morrison was the State Director of the NSW Liberal Party between 2000-2004.
He was the General Manager of the Tourism Council between 1996-1998, then Director of the New Zealand Office of Tourism and Sport over 1998-2000.
As director of Tourism Australia between 2004-2006, he presided over the controversial campaign featuring the slogan “Where The Bloody Hell Are You?”
Mr Morrison is married to his wife Jenny and has two daughters, Abbey and Lily.
He is an avid Cronulla Sharks supporter.
Mr Morrison holds an honours degree in Applied Economic Geography from the University of NSW.
